Gavin's Hoenn Journey
by HangHead
Summary: An aspiring champion sets out on his journey to become the champion of Hoenn, and eventually the world. That is, if mythical entities don't wreck the planet first.
1. The Beginning

Today's the day.

I finally leave this pathetic city for good.

I moved here two years ago, from Straiton City in Unova. I loved Straiton. It was a very nice place compared to Mauville, which is too shiny and fake for my liking. I wanted to begin my trainer journey in Unova, but this move caused a change of plans. Mom wouldn't let me stay alone at Straiton for a year, so I had to come here.

I barely knew anything about Hoenn. I had only been outside Mauville once when we went to Lavaridge for the hot springs on a holiday. I hated that place too. It was crammed with tourists and was a one-horse town. But I guess I'll have to go there once I begin my journey, because they have a gym there.

I haven't told you anything about myself, have I? Sorry! I'm Gavin Monroe. Height 6'1", black hair, brown eyes, normal weight. I'm sixteen. As you might have guessed, I want to be a trainer. And today, I receive my result of the test. You get a Pokemon depending on your test rank. There's the usual starters; Treecko, Torchic and Mudkip. Since the Mauville Gym runs the trainer school in Mauville, a lot of electric-type Pokemon are available as starters too, like Electrike, Magnemite and Pikachu. A few random Pokemon like Poochyena and Taillow are also included. If we don't want any of them, we can receive a nest ball instead and catch a Pokemon nearby.

I went in the academy and in the graduation room for the result. It was a small room, with enough space to seat all graduates. There were 20 people who graduated this month. I had ranked fifth, to my surprise; I had been ranking 12-15 out of 20 throughout school, but I lucked out in the tests and got a high rank. Hopefully I get a good electric-type pokemon as a starter.

"Hey bro" said a male voice from behind, as a shorter blond male sat beside me. He was Alexander Dawson, or Alex for short. Alex was my only friend here. We happened to both come from outside Mauville, and our mutual dislike for this City was our reason for friendship.

"So, who you gonna pick? Anyone you have in mind?" he asked.

"Fifth place means I'll probably get an electric-type. Treecko, if I'm lucky. I really wanted Torchic, but that aint gonna happen now" I said, sighing. Having a hi-jump kicking Blaziken was one of my dreams, but the first-ranked trainer always took Torchic. Torchic were very rare in the wild, but Treecko and Mudkip were quite common.

"Don't worry. I know you'll do well with whoever you get" he reassured.

"Welcome, Graduates!" announced the principal of the school. "Today marks a very important day in your lives…"

He gave a very long speech. I have no idea how long it lasted. Must be an hour. I was glad when I heard applause, signifying the end of the speech.

"Now, the trainers will come on stage and select their starter according to their rank. First Rank: Melissa Adams!" he said. I saw a brown-haired short girl head onto the stage.. and pick Elekid. Murmurs were heard around the room. This was unexpected.

Melissa was always a huge Torchic-fan, so having her pick elekid was a huge surprise. But I was hopeful. This meant that at least I'll get a better Pokemon.

"Magnus Svensson!"

The tall, blond boy wearing a blue shirt and jeans went on the stage and chose Treecko. Magnus always preferred Treecko, but it was weird having the top two trainers not having picked the fire chicken as their first partner.

"Samantha Thorne!"

I watched as that beautiful dark-haired girl walked on the stage and pick Ralts. I sighed as she returned to her seat. I'd have to forget this one-sided love soon- She had a boyfriend.

Alex then effectively crushed my Blaziken-dreams by picking Torchic. "Sorry, bro" he said as he returned to his seat beside me. I was disappointed.

"Gavin Monroe!"

The time had come. I slowly got up.. and stumbled, almost falling into the girl in front. I left after mumbling an apology, and nervously headed onto the stage.

"Well then" said the principal "Pick your partner"

'I guess I'll have to do with you', I thought to myself, as I reached out my hand to a pokeball. Beside it was a picture of the mud fish Pokemon.

Mudkip.

 _Thanks for reading. Please leave reviews and criticism so I can improve, I'd really appreciate it. Fixed a few mistakes._


	2. Goodbyes and Battles

After the ceremony, Alex and I left the school before the new trainers started battling in the grounds.

"See you soon near the Pokemon Center!" said Alex, leaving.

I headed home to say goodbye to my mom and dad.

"Take care, Gavie" said Mom, running her hands through my hair. "I want you to make it to the league this year, okay? I expect a lot from you. And don't forget to visit dad when you go to Slateport!"

"I won't, Mom."

"Okay. Here's $5000 to get you started. Do you have your Poke Balls and Pokedex?"

"Yes, Mom" I sighed.

"That reminds me, I haven't seen your Pokemon. Show me!"

I unhooked the only pokeball on my belt and sent out Mudkip. I hadn't even seen my Pokemon until now.

The white light subsided from the ball, revealing the blue mud fish. It had a puzzled look on its face, unaware of its new surroundings.

"Hello there, Mudkip" I said, bending down. "I'm your new trainer, Gavin."

"kip" it said, apprehensively.

"Don't worry, Gavin." said mom, detecting the worry on my face. " Blaziken was the same way when I got him. Course, he was a Torchic back then. You'll earn its trust."

"Thanks, Mom" I said. "Mudkip, return!" I shouted, as I recalled it into Pokeball.

We finally said our goodbyes, and I headed to the Pokemon Centre, stocking up on potions and a couple of revives on the way. I was down to $800 now.

"Sup." came his familiar voice. "Finally glad to be leaving Mauville, huh?"

"Yeah" I replied, If I could see myself, I'm sure I would have a delighted look on my face.

"Anyway, there's this important thing we have to do." He said, grinning. He unhooked his Pokeball from his belt.

"Of course." I replied, unhooking Mudkip as well. "One-on-one, no items." I declared.

"Go, Mudkip!" I shouted

"Go, Torchic!" he yelled as well.

The two starter Pokemon faced each other. Mudkip looked back at me, with the same apprehensive look on its face as before. Alex's Torchic, on the other hand looked directly at my Mudkip, eager to fight.

"

"Tackle!" I ordered

"Scratch!" he countered.

Both pokemon launched a flurry of the only damaging move they knew towards the other.

"Come on, Mudkip, just one more tackle!" I ordered. Mudkip had very little energy left, so did torchic. The Pokemon which could muster strength for one last attack would win.

Unfortunately, that Pokemon would be Torchic.

"Dammit!" I growled, as Mudkip lay on the Pokemon Centre floor, clearly fainted.

"Hey!" shrieked a female voice. We turned around to see one of the Joy sisters look at us furiously. "No battling in the Pokemon Centre!"

"Sorry!" both of us said in unision, before he continued "Can you please heal our Pokemon, Nurse Joy?"

"Okay" she replied, still not happy. But at least no damage was caused to any furniture or medical equipment.

After healing up, we then headed to route 111. Ready to go onwards to Lavaridge for our first gym badge.

And away from this city.

 **Note:** _Another short chapter. The next chapter will be longer than this, and hopefully more interesting._

 _Criticism appreciated as usual._


	3. Road to Lavaridge

Well, this has not been the start I had expected to my trainer career.

I have battled about 15-16 wild Pokemon, losing to about 12 of them. I was running back and forth to the centre on Route 111 to heal up, because I couldn't afford to use potions on the road. Not when I only had $500 (I lost a few bucks to Alex when he beat me).

I set up my tent on the route, exhausted from all the trips. I still had my potions and revives.

'Should not have bought those damn revives' I muttered to myself.

After setting up camp, me and Alex collected some wood and used Torchic's newly-learned Ember to light a small fire. Mudkip had learned mud-slap too, but it's not as powerful as I would have liked. It also didn't seem any friendlier towards me, which was worrying.

"Torchic seems very friendly towards you" I said, sipping from my disgusting canned soup. "Ugh the soup is horrible!" I said, almost spitting it out.

"Yeah" replied Alex, making a face as well. "But listen, don't worry about mudkip. Maybe a battle after dinner will cheer him up. I want to test out my new capture too." He said, drawing out a Pokeball.

"You caught a Pokemon already?!" I said, really surprised. I became a little nervous.

"Yeah. You'll find out who it is when we battle."

"Not for money though. I'm almost out of cash now."

"Come on, dude. Just $100"

We eventually set the price at $50 for a win. After (barely) finishing our soup, we stood across our camp, with the small fire as the only source of light.

"Ready?" I said

"Yes. Go!" he yelled, as he sent out his Pokemon. A bright light erupted, lighting up the campsite for a brief moment. After it subsided, a round blue creature appeared on the field.

"Marill, huh?" I said. "Okay, go, Mudkip!". The mud fish Pokemon also appeared.

"Let's start off with Tackle!" I yelled

"Use bubble to slow him down, Marill!" he countered

"Avoid them, Mudkip!"

Marill let out a small stream of bubbles, but Mudkip easily circumvented those and tackled marill, sending it flying.

"Tackle again, Marill!" ordered Alex

"Hit it with mud-slap!" I ordered back.

Marill recovered and charged towards Mudkip again, However mudkip spat some mud straight into Marill's eyes, causing it to lose sense of direction and miss Mudkip.

"That's it, now tackle it again!" I ordered, feeling enthusiastic.

Mudkip slammed into Marill. The impact threw it back. However, this time it couldn't get up.

"Yeah!" I yelled, pumping my fist. "Nice job, Mudkip!"

"kip" it responded, with more enthusiasm. I returned it to its ball after healing it with a potion.

"Well, I'm really sleepy. Goodnight." I said, yawning. Alex nodded, withdrawing his Marill into its pokeball. I headed into my own tent.

The next day was much better. This time I only battled novice trainers like me (no badges) and refused all other challenges. Sure, I had a few losses as well, but now I was winning as well. Mudkip seemed to trust me more and that felt good.

Alex was doing even better. He'd won every single battle, and his Torchic was looking fearsome and Marill was catching up too. I decided to catch another pokemon as well.

"Hey, wanna battle?" a weird purple-haired girl asked Alex. He accepted, and soon a battle began between them. I headed out into the small forest nearby. While I was wading through it, I felt a hand strike my shoulder with some force. I fell to the ground, holding my shoulder in pain.

"Machop!" the small blue humanoid pokemon said, assuming a battling position.

I decided to catch it.

"Go, Mudkip!" I yelled, using my other hand to send him out while still on the floor

"Kip!" said the pokemon, appearing ready for battle.

"Use Water ow-gun!" I yelled. My shoulder still hurt by the machop's Karate Chop attack. I got up, still clutching my injured shoulder.

Mudkip shot a stream of water at the Machop, hitting it squarely in the chest and sending it backwards. Machop recovered though, and used Low Kick on mudkip and brought it crashing down on its own weight.

"Kip!" Mudkip said, getting up. "Now use mud-slap!" I commanded.

The mud-slap was another direct hit as it got into Machop's eyes. Machop seemed slightly disoriented by the mud, but successfully hit the mudkip with a Karate Chop.

"Right" I muttered to myself. I drew a Pokeball from my belt and sent it towards Machop. Machop was transformed into red light and drawn inside the ball.

*Wobble*

I held my breath

*Wobble*

And then it stopped. "YEAH!" I yelled causing the girl battling Alex to throw a glance at me. I then realized that Alex had finished his battle, and I went over to where he was.

"I lost" said Alex, sighing. "It had to happen, right? And I guess you caught a Pokemon! Show it!"

"It's a machop" I told him. But let's get refreshed at the Pokemon Centre near mount chimney first. Then I'll show him to you."

The journey towards the mountain was short, with no trainers on the way to battle. However, as we approached the base of the mountain where the centre was, we were attacked by a couple of Taillow.

"Ow!" I yelled, as a Taillow pecked my arm. I just threw my pokeball on the floor and shouted "WATER GUN!". Mudkip obeyed, shooting embers at the Taillow and pushing it back. I looked over to see if Alex was alright, and saw him fending off the tiny swallow Pokémon with Torchic's ember attack as well.

"What's this?" said a deep male voice. At its source were a couple of tall, muscular men who looked like thugs. They were wearing green outfits with a large black 'D' printed on them

"What the hell?!" yelled Alex "Who the hell are you? And why did you attack us?"

"It isn't important to you, kid." The man answered "Just stay away from this centre."

"Use Water Gun, Mudkip!" I suddenly yelled. I wasn't going to let these two people bully me.

My mudkip shot small flames one of the taillow. It dropped on the ground, unable to move.

"Now get out of our way." I said, trying to make my voice sound threatening.

"Taillow,Return!" the other man yelled, withdrawing his injured pokemon. "Stay away, if you know what's good for you."

Well, I wasn't going to stop, so I headed towards the centre.

It was under attack by people in those same green uniforms.


	4. Roadblocks

I ran towards the Pokemon centre. It was besieged by men in green uniforms. A few police officers and some trainers were holding them off, but they were heavily outnumbered. I called out mudkip and used up my last potion on him.

"Let's help the police and the centre out, Mudkip!" I shouted. Mudkip nodded.

"HEY GREENHEAD!" I shouted to the nearest man in the green uniform. He was ganging up on a trainer with two other men in green. They all looked at me.

"Another one." He said. "I'll take him out, looks like a rookie. Poochyena, use bite!" he shouted.

"Mud-slap!" I ordered. Mudkip used its tail to shoot mud into the poochyena's face, causing it to miss.

"Now,Water Gun!" I yelled. Mudkip shot a jet of water at the dog without hesitating, knocking it out. The man hastily withdrew his Poochyena and called out to another grunt

"Hey, need some help ova here!"

Another man in a similar green suit rushed over, and sent out a Taillow.

"Use peck!"

Taillow dived towards Mudkip, preparing to strike him with his beak.

"Mud-Slap!" I ordered, then realized my stupid mistake. Mud-Slap won't do anything! I watched as mudkip flung mud in the taillow's eyes, and it had no effect on the pokemon. Taillow's peck connected with Mudkip, knocking him back.

"Sorry, Mudkip!" I said "Use Water Gun!"

Mudkip got back up on its feet, and shot a water gun. This time, taillow was knocked back, and knocked out.

"More help!" he said and a few grunts ran over to where I was

His associates drew the pokeballs, but were interrupted by a loud siren. Dozens of police bikes and cars had arrived and had swarmed the scene. The men were arrested.

"Thank you for holding them off" said a police officer to me "They would've taken over that centre if not for you."

"Don't mention it, officer" I replied "You know who were those guys?"

"Never seen them before. Inform the police if you see them, okay?"

I nodded, and went over to Alex.

"This is like team aqua all over again." He said "I doubt that's the last we'll see of them"

"Yeah, let's worry about that later" I replied.

The police left with the arrested grunts. I dropped of my Pokemon at Nurse Joy's for a quick rest and headed out to the small café that each centre has.

"Hey!" called a familiar, feminine voice. I looked over, and saw Melissa Adams, one of my classmates calling out. I went and sat at the table

"Did you see those green suit guys?" she enquired

"Yeah!" I replied "I took one of them on, managed to beat him"

"Yeah, I beat one too" she replied "Don't you think it's strange? We're rookie trainers. It's like they wanted to get caught."

"You're right!" I realized "Maybe it was some attention-seeking stunt."

"I hope its not gonna be like team aqua again." she said, with uncertainty in her voice "It was hell when they were around. Would've destroyed the planet if it weren't for Champion Birch"

"Let's hope." I replied. I knew little about this other than what appeared on the news.

"Well, got any gym badges yet?" said the brunette, changing the subject. She was obviously not very comfortable with talking about Team aqua.

"Nope, We're going to Lavaridge for my first. I've got a type advantage there." I replied. Better not to ask more questions about team aqua, though I was highly interested.

We kept on chatting. Alex joined us at one point. We continue the conversation until our Pokemon were healed. She left for Mauville (She wanted to take it on as her first gym) , while we stayed the night at the centre because the cable car would only open in the morning. From there, we would head down from the Jagged pas to Lavaridge.

And hopefully, get my badge collection started.


End file.
